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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner | Page:   1 2 |
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| Plectrum Banjo | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Thu Oct 1st, 2009 03:42 am |
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21st Post |
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abarts Approved 
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I'm pretty much a noobie as far as banjo goes, but I've been bouncing around the past year between ukulele, 5-string banjo and now tenor (17-string) banjo. (I'm really a sax player in disguise.) I retuned the 5-string in Chicago style (same as baritone uke and top 4 strings of guitar)and really like it. It's now effectively a plectrum banjo. It's very live since it has a tone ring. I just got the tenor - a 1920s no-name without tone ring - and retuned it to Chicago as well. I was interested to hear the comment about the B string overtone. I have it too, and also the E string. I'm waiting for a Waverly tailpiece to arrive. Then I will restring. I play both banjos pretty much the way I do the uke - finger style without pick (learned from my Pete Seeger banjo book); though I'm gradually learning to use the pick and am learning tremolo and learning to correlate notes with standard music notation. I don't play in a band, so there's no need to blow anyone's socks off with volume. Just the opposite. I'm not a great singer, so quieter is better. The 4-string instruments, while at first opening the door to me for jazz tunes, actually work just fine with bluegrass and folk, etc. as long as you're not trying to sound like Earl Scruggs. Having a concert uke and a banjo uke gives me a wide range of similarly setup instruments. Going from standard uke tuning to bari tuning is not hard if you are familiar with the circle of fifths. Jazz Banjo Radio has non-stop 4-string tenor and plectrum music via your computer. They provide the artists names and sing titles, so it's a good way to find out who's out there recording.
____________________ -- Al http://lazyriveruke.blogspot.com/ Learning to play the ukulele - a journey up the Lazy River |
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| Posted: Thu Oct 1st, 2009 04:04 am |
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22nd Post |
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Will Approved 
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abarts wrote: I'm pretty much a noobie as far as banjo goes, but I've been bouncing around the past year between ukulele, 5-string banjo and now tenor (17-string) banjo. (I'm really a sax player in disguise.) I retuned the 5-string in Chicago style (same as baritone uke and top 4 strings of guitar)and really like it. It's now effectively a plectrum banjo. It's very live since it has a tone ring. I just got the tenor - a 1920s no-name without tone ring - and retuned it to Chicago as well. I was interested to hear the comment about the B string overtone. I have it too, and also the E string. I'm waiting for a Waverly tailpiece to arrive. Then I will restring. Hello, Al: I just received my new Gold Tone Cripple Creek plectrum banjo, and I am very happy with how easily it plays and how rich the tone is (it has a brass tone ring, but not the heavy kind). I have tuned the new banjo to DGBE Chicago tuning. http://www.wwbw.com/Gold-Tone-CC-Plectrum-473750-i1425415.wwbw  I read that the first plectrum banjos were made from 5-string banjos with the 5th string removed, to facilitate the playing of chords with a plectrum. Since I usually play banjo with a pick, the 5th string gets in the way, so I have not bought a 5-string banjo (yet). The Lark In The Morning tenor banjo, which I bought 5 years ago, has just been converted from DGBE to standard CGDA tenor tuning. I broke the 0.10 high string trying to tune it from E to A, so I used a 0.08 string to replace it. It sounds very nice in tenor tuning, now that I have learned to play in that tuning as well. Good luck with your banjos and enjoy them. Last edited on Thu Oct 1st, 2009 03:53 pm by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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